The Leaf-Bare Assessment
by Pebbleheart25
Summary: A quick one-shot about a SorrelClan apprentice's warrior assessment.
Magnoliapaw woke up from her dreams of snow to a huge paw prodding her face. She groaned, "Stop it. I'm trying to sleep." The prodding stopped for a moment. Then a huge pawful of something cold and wet slammed into the light gray tabby's face. She shook it off and stood up, fully alert, and hissed, "Are we under attack?!" Another apprentice, Vinepaw, laughed and walked back from the entrance. "Nope. Just me trying to wake you up," Vinepaw meowed. He shrugged and added, "Oh, and by the way, it's snowing!" Magnoliapaw's ears shot up and she charged out of the warm den, leaping straight into a huge snow bank. "Finally!" she cried. "I thought it would never snow!"

She rolled around in the snow happily, covering her thick light gray fur with a layer of snow. After a while, she stood up and shook her fur out, flinging piles of snow on top of her brother. "Hey!" he yelled at Magnoliapaw, digging his way out of the snow mound. A tortoiseshell warrior emerged from the shadows of the warriors' den and chuckled at the two apprentices. "Having fun in the snow?" he asked, walking over and helping Vinepaw dig his way out. A thick furred, dark brown tabby followed the tortoiseshell out of the warriors' den and sat down next to Magnoliapaw. He meowed, "Are you two ready for your assessment today?" Vinepaw and Magnoliapaw looked at the dark brown tabby in disbelief. "That's today, Otterwave?" Magnoliapaw asked. The dark brown tabby nodded.

"Yay!" Magnoliapaw jumped up and down happily. "That means I'll get to try snow hunting for the first time!" She dove into a snow pile and popped back up a few seconds later, but a few tail lengths away. Vinepaw chuckled. "Let's hope you don't sink into the snow too deep." The tortioseshell cuffed his ears and Vinepaw moaned sarcastically, "Ow! That hurt, Marshpuddle!" Marshpuddle ignored his sarcastic apprentice and meowed, "We've wasted enough time already. At this rate, we won't start the assessment until sun-high!"

At sun-high, the four cats were at the training hollow, having only just started the assessment. Marshpuddle gave the apprentices a look that clearly said, "I told you so!" while Otterwave meowed, "Magnoliapaw, you will have to bring back a bird, a mouse, and a vole. Vinepaw, you will have to bring back a mouse, and three shrews. Off you go now!" Otterwave shooed the two apprentices away with his tail and added, "Don't forget, we'll be watching you!"

Magnoliapaw took an old rabbit trail to a patch of berry bushes in hope of finding the mouse she needed. A few fox lengths away from the berry patch, she stopped and opened her mouth, searching for any recent traces of mouse. Finding what she was looking for, the light gray tabby reared up and slammed her front paws into the snow. Her claws closed around a warm body, and she pulled it out of the hole. Killing the mouse with a quick bite to its neck, her ears turned to the bushes behind her. Otterwave was watching. Magnoliapaw carried her mouse to the base of an old oak tree and buried it so she could retrieve it later.

Continued on the rabbit trail, she soon arrived at a creek. Once again, she opened her mouth to search for any trace of her prey. She turned her head to the left, bumping a tree branch in the process. Looking up, she watched that branch bumped another, and another, and another, until snow was raining onto her head. She squeezed her eyes shut and waited for the snow to stop falling onto her head. Then she opened her eyes and began to shake her head, but stopped. She slowly lowered herself to the ground and sunk into the snow to hide herself.

A few seconds after Magnoliapaw had hidden herself, three sets of paws walked casually by and the scent of TreeClan filled Magnoliapaw's nostrils. She forced herself not to wince at the stench. Listening closely, she heard the TreeClan trespassers talking, but their voices were quieted by the snow, so she couldn't make them out. After a few minutes of waiting in absolute silence, Magnoliapaw squeezed her head out of the snow and looked around, scenting the air at the same time. All clear.

She jumped out of the snow gracefully and returned to her hunt. Reporting the trespassers could wait. Noticing tiny footprints on the frozen creek, she followed them to a hole that smelled strongly of vole. As quietly as possible, the light gray apprentice hid behind a snowbank, making sure that she couldn't be seen from the hole. She waited for what felt like forever before her prey left its hole. It sounded surprisingly plump for leaf-bare prey. Lifting her head just high enough over the snow that she could see the vole, she noticed that it really was quite plump for leaf-bare prey. Perfect for the elders to eat.

The apprentice crouched and prepared to leap out of the snow. Oh, how she hoped her mentor was watching! She would look so cool with the snow flying out behind her as she jumped. She smiled at the thought and pounced. Just as she had imagined, she leapt through the top of the snow bank and caused snow to fly everywhere behind her. The vole froze in terror as the apprentice "flew" towards it. Magnoliapaw landed on top of the vole, crushing it just enough to kill it. She thanked StarClan for the prey and buried it under another tree.

Now she just needed to find some kind of bird. Magnoliapaw followed the creek for a little while, then turned to head back into the forest. She crouched under a bush and listened. There was a magpie in the tree in front of her. She'd just have to wait for it to come down. The light gray tabby checked to make sure she was down wind, then waited. Luckily, the magpie flew out of the tree after less than a minute of waiting. Magnoliapaw thanked StarClan that she didn't have to wait in the cold too long, then focused on the magpie.

Her prey was near the center of the clearing, where there were no bushes or anything to shelter her. How would she catch it? Running at it probably wouldn't work, but that seemed like her only option. She crouched and leapt into the clearing, landing a tail length short of her prey. The magpie shot into the air and began to fly away, but Magnoliapaw was faster. She leaped again, this time straight into the air. Stretching her forepaws up as fast as possible, she managed the grab the magpie out of the air. She bit its neck to kill it, then raised her head triumphantly. Looking to her left, she smiled at the bush her mentor was hiding in. He never was the best hider.

That evening, Frogstar called a Clam meeting. "I, Frogstar, leader of SorrelClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on these apprentices. They have trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend them to you as warriors in their turn. Vinepaw, Magnoliapaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?"

Vinepaw and Magnoliapaw both replied confidently, "I do." Frogstar continued, "Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior names. Vinepaw, from this moment you will be known as Vineleap. StarClan honors your willingness to learn and intelligence, and we welcome you as a full warrior of SorrelClan. Magnoliapaw, from this moment you will be known as Magnoliaflower. StarClan honors your courage and determination, and we welcome you as a full warrior of SorrelClan."

Frogstar rested his muzzle on Magnoliaflower's head, and the newly-made warrior licked his shoulder in return. Frogstar turned and did the same with Vineleap, then the whole Clan cheered, "Magnoliaflower! Vineleap! Magnoliaflower! Vineleap!" The new warriors' mother, Featherdust, was cheering loudest of all. Magnoliaflower smiled, then froze. She had forgotten to report the TreeClan trespassers.

 **The End**


End file.
